The German High Seas Fleet was the main battle fleet of the German Imperial Navy.

Kaiser Wilhelm appointed von Tirpitz head of the Imperial Naval Office in 1897 to spearhead the expansion of the German Navy. It had been dramatically strengthened in the years immediately before the war. Tirpitz also oversaw the widening of the Wilhelm Canal (named for Wilhelm I) which allowed Dreadnought-size ships to pass readily between the North and Baltic Seas. The widening was completed in June 1914.

At the time of the May 31, 1916 Battle of Jutland, the greatest naval engagement of the war, the High Seas Fleet was commanded by Admiral Reinhard von Scheer, and had twenty-seven battleships and battle cruisers, eleven light cruisers, and sixty-three destroyers. It consisted of the Main Fleet under Scheer, and the Scouting Forces under Vice Admiral Franz von Hipper.